Higgs bosons in warped space, from the bulk to the brane

Abstract

In the context of warped extra dimensional models with all fields propagating in the bulk, we address the phenomenology of a bulk scalar Higgs boson, and calculate its production cross section at the LHC as well as its tree-level effects on mediating flavor changing neutral currents. We perform the calculations based on two different approaches. First, we compute our predictions analytically by considering all the degrees of freedom emerging from the dimensional reduction [the infinite tower of Kaluza Klein modes (KK)]. In the second approach, we perform our calculations numerically by considering only the effects caused by the first few KK modes, present in the 4-dimensional effective theory. In the case of a Higgs leaking far from the brane, both approaches give the same predictions as the effects of the heavier KK modes decouple. However, as the Higgs boson is pushed toward the TeV brane, the two approaches seem to be equivalent only when one includes heavier and heavier degrees of freedom (which do not seem to decouple). To reconcile these results it is necessary to introduce higher dimension operators which essentially encode the effects of integrating out the heavy KK modes and dress the brane Higgs so that it looks just like a bulk Higgs. However, in the brane Higgs limit, it is not possible to predict if there will be enhancement or suppression in the Higgs production rate since the corrections depend on the phases of higher dimension operators.